The present invention relates to a technique which is advantageously applicable to electronic musical instruments that are capable of receiving various data via MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), for example, so as to perform a variety of music performance setting operations such as effect imparting operations.
In the field of electronic musical instruments, there has been commonly known a technique of imparting tone signals various musical effects such as reverberation and tremolo, to provide effect-imparted synthesized tones. For instance, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. HEI 3-126091 discloses an effect imparting device in which a tone signal derived from imparting an effect to an original sound (so-called "dry" sound) signal is multiplied by a predetermined level value and then the multiplied tone signal is mixed with the original sound signal to provide ultimate output tone signal for audible reproduction. With the disclosed device, it is possible to control the degree or depth of the effect by only adjusting the level value to be multiplied with the effect-imparted tone signal.
There have also been known devices comprising a plurality of effect imparting circuits, in which an original sound signal is input to the individual effect imparting circuits for impartment of respective effects and then output signals from the effect imparting circuits are mixed with the original sound signal to provide ultimate output tone signal. This device controls the level of the original sound signal as well as the level of the input or output signal to or from each of the effect imparting circuits and mixes the thus level-controlled signals together so as to provide ultimate output tone signal. The effect balance is determined by the degree in which the levels of the original sound signal and of the signals input to or output from the effect imparting circuits are controlled.
It may sometimes be desired that data such as effect balance data prepared in one electronic musical instrument having a plurality of effect imparting circuits (first electronic musical instrument) be utilized in another electronic musical instrument (second electronic musical instrument). In such a case, no significant problem will arise, provided that the first and second electronic musical instruments have the same effect imparting circuits. However, it is very probable that the second electronic musical instrument does not contain one or more particular effect imparting circuits which are provided in the first electronic musical instrument. In such a case, there will arise a problem that output tone volume will undesirably decrease to an appreciable degree, due to the fact that the effect balance data is prepared in the first instrument on the presumption that the particular specific effect imparting circuits are provided is utilized in the second electronic musical instrument without such particular effect imparting circuits. For example, in such a case where effect balance data is prepared in one electronic musical instrument that is designed to halve the level of original sound signal and also the level of signal obtained by imparting reverberation to the original sound signal and then mix the thus level-controlled signals to provide output tone signal, and where the effect balance data is directly utilized in another electronic musical instrument having no reverberation circuit, the other electronic musical instrument will of course be unable to impart a reverberation effect due to lack of reverberation circuit, and yet, output tone volume will appreciably decrease due to the halved level of the original sound signal.
Among the conventional electronic musical instruments, such musical instruments have been known which can set only sensitivity of modulation such as vibrato, but no musical instrument ever developed can set a minimum modulation depth of vibrato or the like. Ordinarily, the conventional electronic musical instruments are designed to allow various settings to be made as desired by the user and operate on the basis of the thus-made settings. Some of these electronic musical instruments are responsive to specific instructions to restore, i.e., initialize the settings to predetermined original states. But, in the prior art electronic musical instruments, all the settings are collectively restored to the corresponding original states, and it is not at all possible to cause only selected information not to be initialized.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. SHO 59-197090 discloses an electronic musical instrument which employs a technique of converting tone control information received from outside, into tone control data for controlling various characteristics of tones to be generated by its tone generation means. According to the disclosed technique, when the electronic musical instrument has received information on a particular tone color that can not be sounded or achieved by the instrument, some alternative tone color is sounded in place of the received tone color. But, in fact, among various tone colors used in the musical instruments, some tone colors may be appropriately replaceable with other tone colors and others may not be appropriately replaceable. However, the prior technique disclosed in the aforementioned publication never considers this because it is designed to collectively replace all tone colors.
In order to share music piece data among plural electronic musical instruments of different models, it is desirable that tone colors common to all the instruments be allotted to specific tone color numbers. However, since each of the instruments has its unique tone generation system and performance, it may have some tone colors unique or peculiar to the instrument. Further, for tone colors common to the plural instruments as well, some of the instruments, particularly if they are of a high-grade, sophisticated model, may have plural sets of variations of the common tone colors. If music piece data of a high-grade model are to be reproduced using a lower-grade model with less tone colors, there may not be corresponding tone color numbers in the lower-grade model, but no significant problem will result even when the missing tone color is replaced with a corresponding variation. But, as for tone color unique to the high-grade model, tone color replacement may often yield entirely different tone, thus hindering appropriate reproduction of the music piece data. Further, as for the replacement with variation tone color, since tone color variations possessed by, i.e., provided in the individual instruments are not known, simple tone color replacement procedures may always result in replacement with a same variation tone color.